Vibratory feeder



June 29, 1954 w, ISBELL 2,682,332

VIBRATORY FEEDER Filed Sept. 11, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR N WILLIAM T. asezu.

BY M- 'W ATTORNEY;

June 29, 1954 w. T. ISBELL 2,

VIBRATORY FEEDER Filed Sept. 11, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WILLIAM T. ISBELL BY M+W ATTORNEYS Patented June 29, 1954 l'lED STAT St. Joseph Lead Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 11, 1951, Serial No. 246,008

1 Claim. (01. 198-406) This invention relates to an improved vibratory feeder and more particularly to a vibratory feeder for pulverulent material adapted to deliver a sub- In the past it has been the practice to distribute the mix to the traveling furnace of sintering machines by swinging spouts, or by large stantialiy uniform charge, both as to segregation conveyors. However, neither of these methods of particles and to the thickness of the pulver- 5 have proved entirely satisfactory even when uient material distributed. spreader bars are employed to aid in leve ing the it is a princi al object of the invention to prodeposited lIllX on the furnace bed. vide such a ce wherein the feed material will The wider the furnace bed the more difiicult he h uniformly along the entire disit becomes to lay down uniform bed with swingc of the feeder. ing spouts, standard convey rs chutes, while object is to provide such a device with the device of the invention it will be seen of feed may be positively and that by merely length ning and widening the .ctlvely controlled. feeder bed to provide a discharge lip su stannother of the invention is to provide tially equal to the width of the furnace bed, a feeder for pulverulent material which is simple l5 renders the feeder of the invention readily adaptas to parts readily adaptable to various able to various feeding conditions. feeding conditions. It has been found that very satisfactory re- These other objects of the invention will suits are obtainable by feeding the charge upon be more fully disclosed with reference to one the traveling furnace bed by of the vibraform of the ibratory feeder of the invention as tory feeder of the invention which comprises app-lied to a sintering machine where uniformity generally a trough-like conveyor suspended in a of feed is an essential requirement, as shown in plane substantially parallel to the bed to be the illustrative embodiments of the invention in formed with the longitudinal axis of the conwhich: veyor angularly disposed to the longitudinal axis Fig. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of a sinof the bed, a discharge edge for the trough subtering machine including the vibratory feeder of stantially normal to the longitudinal of the the invention; bed, and means for vibrating the trough parallel Fig. 2 is a detailed side view of the feeder to its longitudinal axis. shown in Fig. l, with the bed of the sintering Referring to the drawings IE] is the vibratory machine removed to show more clearly the feeder feeder of the invention which comprises a subsuspension and drive mechanism; and stantially rectangular trough it, provided with Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top view of the machine side and end members It and it, respectively. shown in Fig. l with the top supporting means In the base of the trough an angular discharge for the feeder removed. slot It is provided, the edge I!) of which forms the In the art of sintering ores the ore mix or discharge edge of the feeding device. charge for the sintering machine must be care- In order to impart a vibratory motion to the fully prepared and deposited on the bed of the trough there is provided at the rear or material sintering furnace. After the ores, or concenreceiving end of the feeder a vibratory motor trates, and fluxes have been pelletized or a Ell, which may be of any suitable electric, hyglornerated in, for example, rotary mixing drums, draulic, pneumatic or internal Combustion yp it has been the practice in industry to convey the Th mo r i attached to h u h y mix directly to the sintering machine without means f brackets 01" side pla 22 which are storing and with a minimum of handling in order rigid with the base of the trough so that there to insure uniformity of the charge. Even with Will be imparted & the feeder a V b at y motion careful handling of the mix, for efficient sinterhaving both a vertical and a horizontal coming the charge must be uniformly distributed ponent relative t0 the plane of e o across the furnace bed and of a definite uniform The motor casing is preferabl fiexibly supthickness or during the sintering operation blowported upon standards i l, provided with coil holes will form in the thin or loosely packed por- Springs 26, while the forward end of the trough tion of the furnace bed which will cause draft deis flexibly supported by hanger rods 28. Rods 28 ficiencies in other portions of the bed. This are pivotally attached to the support beams 30 causes uneven sintering and may result in porat their upper ends and are provided with eye tions of the charge being unsintered, thereby clamp assemblies 32 at their lower ends. substantially decreasing the furnace output and The vibratory feeder shown in the illustrative greatly increasing the cost of production. embodiments of the invention is fed by means of a hopper 34, and chute 36 which receive the mix, after processing, from the endless belt conveyor generally designated 38.

With particular reference to Figs. 1 and 3, 40 is the charge receiving end of a typical sintering machine having an endless traveling bed 42 which after receiving the mix moves in the direction of the arrows into the furnace, not shown in the drawings.

The longitudinal axis of the trough I2 is angularly disposed to the longitudinal axis of the furnace bed 42, whereby material to be discharged onto the bed moves down the trough parallel to its longitudinal axis and at an angle to the bed of the sinter machine as clearly shown by the arrows in Fig. 3 of the drawings. The discharge edge [9 of the trough is substantially normal to the direction of travel of bed 42 and is therefore angularly disposed to the longitudinal axis of the trough l2 and to the direction of flow of the feed material. The length of the discharge edge I9 is substantially equal to the width of the furnace bed 42, so that a layer of mix the width of the traveling bed is laid down as the bed passes beneath the discharge edge IQ of the trough :l2.

The depth of the mix may be controlled by the amplitude of the vibration imparted to the trough by the motor 20, and it has been found that the depth of the charge on the furnace bed may be regulated as much as one hundred per cent by changing the amplitude of the vibrations without substantially affecting the uniform deposition of the charge upon the bed.

With the device of the invention a leveling gate such as shown at 44 controllable, for example, by the hand wheel 46 through a gear train 48 may be effectively used without the danger of uneven packing of the sinter bed, since the fine and coarse particles of the mix are substantially uniformly distributed across the width of the bed of the furnace, the entire bed is uniformly levelled by the gate 44.

On installations where standard conveyors or swinging spouts are employed to distribute the mix to the traveling furnace bed, it has generally been necessary to employ rakes, chains and the like following the leveling bar to loosen up the charge before it reaches the ignition zone of the sintering machine. It has been found, however,

that this additional step is not necessary with the device of the invention as the feeder lays down a charge on the bed of the machine that is more fluffy or open than those produced by standard feeding methods, giving substantially better ignition and burning of the charge.

The structure of the vibratory feeder herein shown and described may be variously modified and changed as to details of construction and operation to suit different requirements and conditions. For example, in the drawings, the trough of the feeder is shown as being substantially rectangular'in shape and provided with a discharge slot angularly positioned with respect to the longitudinal axis of the trough and the direction of fiow of the material to be discharged. However, the trough may be of any convenient shape or size, and the discharge edge of the feeder may be formed as one side of the trough, without affecting the principles of operation of the feeder of the invention.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the present invention provides an improved vibratory feeder for pulverulent material, whereby the aims, objects and advantages of the invention are fully accomplished.

I claim:

A system of conveyors comprising a first conveyor, said first conveyor comprising a trough, a motor for vibrating the trough to impart a conveying action to material carried thereby and a discharge edge for the trough angularly disposed to the longitudinal axis of the trough, and a second conveyor beneath the first conveyor and disposed with its longitudinal axis normal to the discharge edge of the first conveyor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,776,568 ONeale Sept. 23, 1930 1,840,294 Richards Jan. 5, 1932 2,219,954 Geiger et al. Oct. 29, 1940 2,539,070 Gebo Jan. 23, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 19,338 Great Britain Apr. 25, 1895 

